C. A. Grubb, RIP

My grandfather, Clarence Arthur "Chuck" Grubb, died on December 30, 2010.  He would have been 92 on January 4.  I have been out in Davis, CA since Saturday dealing with all the paperwork (I am the executor of the estate).  The last few days have been odd--a combination of lots of busywork and lots of reflection about my grandpa.

He was an interesting guy.   He grew up in the middle of Idaho, living on ranches and doing all sorts of things.  His father went broke in the Depression--at one point, his father took something like $1.13 out of his pocket, showed it to his two sons, and said, "That's all we have."  When Pearl Harbor was bombed, my grandfather joined the Navy and spent most of his career there, retiring as a Captain.  After that, he worked at Stanford Research Institute for a while, and then moved back to Idaho to build houses.

The most interesting thing my grandpa did in the Navy was work in all the nuclear testing after the war.  He used to say he had been in more nuclear explosions than anyone else--he was part of the crew that would go out after the explosion to measure radiation activity.  He lived to be 92, so the radiation didn't seem to do him much harm.

I learned a lot from my grandparents.  (My grandma died some time ago.)  They always treated me very well; indeed, I think they both liked me a lot--but, they were never the real emotional types.  They helped me pay for my college education which was an immense relief to me all the way through college.  I learned about cocktail hour from them  Janet and I used to love cocktail hour when it rolled around when we were visiting them.

In his later year, my grandfather started a foundation, designed primarily to help out the people in rural Idaho where he grew up.  He was particularly interested in making sure the cemeteries are well-maintained.  I am now the trustee of that Foundation; it is nice to think about carrying on his vision.  My grandfather was a very patriotic man; he served his country well and honorably, and never forgot the place where he was born and raised.

He had three daughters.  All three of them have done some great things in their lives.  From talking with him, I know he was proud of all three, but again, he was never real emotional about it.  His death has obviously left a big hole in the hearts of all of them; he will be missed.

He lived in a retirement community for the last 15 years.  Everyone there spoke very kindly about him--I think he was well known for his sense of humor and his gentlemanly ways.  In his papers, he had printouts of about a zillion of those joke e-mails that get forwarded around--I suspect he kept a ready supply of them so that he would always have a new joke to tell.  I didn't read them all (I am not a big fan of the genre), but I was amused to note that a fair number of them were rather racy.

All in all, he was a good man.  I am very glad that I knew him.